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How to Make It on Craigslist

blog.priceonomics.com

11–20 of 177 posts

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#11
post #5
post #2

It makes sense intuitively that heavy appliances would be the most profitable. People don't say, "sure you can have my iPod for $20" but I could see them being willing to part with a washing machine for that price if someone would carry it out of their third story apartment.

I'm curious how he's able to move giant appliances / half-ton loads of steel out of people's homes by himself.

Hand truck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_truck is a very simple machine and is part of any movers toolkit.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#13
post #4
post #2

It makes sense intuitively that heavy appliances would be the most profitable. People don't say, "sure you can have my iPod for $20" but I could see them being willing to part with a washing machine for that price if someone would carry it out of their third story apartment.

Yes. They will take a lesser fraction of the value in cash when there is a positive value in getting rid of it. Small items are easy to get rid of anyway (you could just throw it in the trash), and if they have value they may be willing to store them and wait. My overall reaction to the article, though, was that he's doing a fair amount of work for a pretty so-so return, and it looks hard to scale it upwards. (That $…

Lots of people do more skilled work for the same or less on oDesk or vWorker.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#15

Shouldn't post stuff like this, it invites competition.

Yes, but if you dig a little deeper, this guy is also running a blog. Stories like these raises his blogs profile and if the story gets picked up by a news outlet that can do wonders. With enough following he can write a book, publish articles in news papers or in very extraordinary case start his own reality TV series. History channel runs a popular TV series called American Pickers following two people who go around buying and selling antiques.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#16
Interesting story, it's fascinating to see what people are doing to make ends meet in the new economy.

Similarly, I know someone who makes well over $100,000 a year buying, fixing, and reselling things on Craigslist and eBay. They found a very specific (and obvious) niche that is highly profitable to be in, I imagine if this guy specialized more he will see greater returns as well.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#17
It's very impressive that he's able to earn so much money and support his family via Craigslist, but I can't help but think about how useful (or not useful, really) his job is for the overall economy. Basically, he's another middleman - buying goods for a low price and selling them higher. Without him in the picture, buyers could have purchased their items for less and saved money. I just don't see how this job adds a service to society.

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#18

> I started the year with almost nothing and ended with a used van, a new utility trailer, less debt, fully paid bills and money left to take the family to Hawaii. > less debt > family to hawaii Something does not compute here.

I think you're missing a variable that equals "Having zero debt at all times is not everyone's highest priority".

Re: How to Make It on Craigslist

#19

It's very impressive that he's able to earn so much money and support his family via Craigslist, but I can't help but think about how useful (or not useful, really) his job is for the overall economy. Basically, he's another middleman - buying goods for a low price and selling them higher. Without him in the picture, buyers could have purchased their items for less and saved money. I just don't see how this job adds…

Well, he is delivering them, and taking old appliances away when he delivers them. There is a lot of value in that.

He is also adding "liquidity" to the "market" by immediately buying new listings, and holding them for a few days until the right buyer comes along. Without someone like him the seller would have to wait several days to find the right buyer.

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